In Denison, Iowa, a robot spends eight hours a day slicing apart hog carcasses at a plant owned by Smithfield Foods. It serves a dual purpose: producing more ribs for barbecues and smokers, while helping ease the US meat industry`s longrunning labour shortages. Meatpackers are increasingly looking to robots for help.

Smithfield, the largest US pork processor, began rolling out automated rib pullers at its pork plants several years ago, which company officials said helps leave less wasted meat on the bone and relieves workers from some of the industry`s most physically demanding jobs-allowing workers to be reassigned from pulling loins or ribs to food-quality inspection jobs. A $300 million, cutting-edge Tyson Foods chicken processing plant that opened in late 2023 in Danville, Va., is designed to maximize efficiency. It can churn out 20pc to 30pc more chicken nuggets, strips and wings with 250 fewer people compared with an older, similar plant in Arkansas.

(Adapted from `Meet The Robots Slicing Your Barbecue Ribs,` by Patrick Thomas, published on April 9, 2024, by The Wall Street Journal)